


Means and ends

by TFALokiwriter



Category: Monsterland (2020)
Genre: F/F, Loophole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26775928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: Lauren Mills is such a unreliable narrator that the ending of the episode may not have exactly happened that way.
Relationships: Elena Milak/Lauren Mills
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

"A daughter for a daughter."

Mills looked toward Elena who wrote, "Help please." and she shook her head then looked up toward the witch. 

"My first daughter for Elena." Mills said. "You get a daughter for a daughter." Elena was trembling as she looked toward Mills. "Your exact words."

Elena stared at Mills feeling her heart shatter into a million pieces.

"Is that what you want?" The witch asked. "A newborn for her place?"

"You have kept Elena just the way that she left her life." Mills said.

"The ingredients for this spell is hard to come by." The witch replied. "Your daughter---"

"Will be raised by someone that cares about her." Mills said. "The world was cruel to you, you said yourself that you wanted a daughter, so why not raise a daughter from hand?"

The witch was at a loss for words for a long moment as Elena was scribbling on the chalkboard. 

"Not the baby!" Elena gripped her friend by the shoulder. 

The witch smiled, slowly.

"It's the only way I can fix this." Elena said.

Elena's heart crumbled before her eyes so Mills mended it with a kiss. Elena melted in Mill's hands grip and her heart was rebuilt perhaps even stronger for the first time in a very long period; her friend's throat felt warm, as did her lips, feeling something that was seemingly impossible only a long time ago. Mills grasped her friend by the hand and gave it a squeeze. Elena shifted toward the witch's direction. 

"I will return tomorrow morning for someone willing to work for the next year." Mills said.

"Willing?"

"Yes," Mills said. "More than willing. . ."

The witch stared at Mills for a long moment.

"Do they need paid?" The witch asked.

"No." Mills said. "There is a pandemic going on outside and they are very bored waiting for it to pass so their job can reopen."

The witch looked toward the scribbling young woman then back toward Mills as the chalkboard was written with, "Pandemic?"

"Then I can do with that volunteer for temporary purposes." The witch said.

"We will do this in a transition period shifting from Elena to your new worker who will take over until the girl is here."

"Girl, get the little girl potion." The witch ordered.

Elena scrambled to her feet then searched around the room.

"If this deal is to be done and sealed, it is very important that I give you some encouraging potion to ensure you have a little girl." The witch replied as Mills got up to her feet. "There have been too many women who tried to weasel out of their deals as they had no intention of having children."

"And you axed them for that." Mills felt chills go down her skin. 

The witch smiled, so sinister, back at Mills.

"It was what was needed." The witch said.

Mills was so afraid as she were doing the right thing but it had to be done, it was horrible. But not as horrible as leaving her friend to die and never tell a soul about the two of them going to The White Forest out of fear. Fear is what guided her secret, to draw the attention of Elena's friends and be slapped by her mother. Her social life was ruined and her partner would walk after discovering that he didn't know her.

Fear of being all alone again was what kept Mills standing in the small shack in her white gown that had a partial stain. She watched as the glass cup was brought over then a smaller cup was summoned by Elena. It was quite small and tiny compared to most cups that she had seen in her life; it bore a resemblance to a small tea cup.

"If you pour half a glass of milk into it, sprinkle in some chocolate, and a tinge of hot pepper, it will make for a very warm drink. It must be stirred."

Mills looked down toward the small tea cup then up toward the witch as she were trembling.

"It will be stirred." Mills promised.

The witch smiled.

"Your wedding." The witch said.

Mills stared back at the witch.

"What about it?"

With a blink, the witch smiled.

"Nothing is wrong with it, now." The witch said. "And your dress is pristine."

Mills felt along her lip feeling little to no wound as she stared at the witch, she made a debt and a deal. 

"How can I repay you?" Mills asked.

"Your honeymoon." The witch said. "After you have become plucked, drink it."

Mills looked toward Elena.

"I will send them to White Forest," Mills said. "I promise." Mills stroked the side of Elena's face. "And I will tell Pete."

Elena cried, Mills walked away. To Mills, a part of her walked out the doorway with nothing in hand but in a dress and a wound on her lip just a few moments ago. That was the story that was going to be told to the child that would stay after her daughter was taken to the witch, to her grandchildren, to any and all who would ask where she went and why Elena popped up the following night. 

Mills walked out of the building, she breathed in a breath of cold air, then sighed. She wasn't the type to tell the truth when it hurt her, but it wouldn't hurt her in the least to cooperate with someone that she may spend the rest of her life with in the future. 

The chances of that began to fall. She grimaced walking in the forest where it had all changed almost a decade ago. It all felt a entire childhood ago instead of a lifetime built off living the life that she so deserved -- but yet, painfully, Mills did not feel that she so deserved to live it -- that her friend should have. All that was to be rectified. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Lauren, there you are!" Peter approached Mills. "I have been worried about you."

Mills was unable to finish what she wanted to say from what was going to be the last and only few kind words from him. Words that were earned under a false sense of security, knowing, and familiarity. Her features fell as Peter grew even more concerned. He used to be a younger, promising, and willing to listen even after what she and Elena put him through for fun.

But, she had the distinctive feeling that he wouldn't listen. _For Elena._ Just a moment before the destruction of her entire life and Elena's well being was on her mind. _She deserves this life._ And with these simple thoughts on her mind, the moment was becoming incredibly easy to break apart with a simple drop of a verbal nuclear bomb. The concern on his demeanor was practically a idyllic natural moment that reeked of a old normal about to be disrupted. She didn't deserve his concern. _  
_

"I heard your mother was here and that she slapped you earlier." His hands grasped the side of her shoulders, worried. "Are you okay?"

Mills painfully nodded.

"Lauren, where have you been?"

She had a intake of breath.

"I. . . I had. . . . I had to go out." His grip on her shoulders loosened. "I had to go to White Forest."

Pete frowned by her reply.

"White Forest, as in, the place where the Lumber Jack Killer leaves his victims?"

"Yes, and no." she shook her head. "It's not a lumber jack."

"What?" Peter's brows furrowed as she placed a hand on the side of his elbow. "How do you know that?"

"We have to talk in private."

"What? Why?"

"It's. . . it's about Elena."

Peter became quiet then allowed himself to be guided away into a room. He sat down, watching Lauren close the door and have her back against the doorway. Lauren's shoulders fell as she lowered her shoulder then raised them upright with a single breath even lift her chin up. Lauren took a few steps away from the door then placed her hands on the side of her arms and began to relay had happened.

Peter raised himself upright gripping the edge of the arm chair as his eyes flashed open as she went over the day that changed everything. He pressed his back against the back rest off the chair as Lauren continued to talk and talk and talk. The pieces fell together so neatly for the reason that she curled her hair instead of letting it remain straight and long, wearing make up, and mascara for that reason. Finally, Lauren finished the details of the now as Peter looked up toward her at the most surprising bit.

"If you don't want to go through with it, leave me; I'll understand. Everyone will understand."

Peter stood up to his feet.

"So, she hasn't changed a day?" Was what Peter said instead.

Lauren bore a small nod.

"Not aged a single day." Mills confirmed. 

"So, if we bring the police into this then they won't find her and everyone will be looking at you."

"I. . don't . . know?" Mills didn't know what to say other than that.

"Obviously, that is the core of it. Why the Lumber Jack Killer is so elusive." He paced back and forth. "Because they are a Wizard!"

Peter laughed, combing his hands through his hair, then threw his head back and moved his hands to his knees as laughter echoed through him. He stopped laughing then resumed pacing back and forth processing the story of the witch and his eyes were completely wide open.

"So that would mean Hogwarts exists and Harry Potter did live for eleven years with his gay Godfather Sirius Black and Uncle Remus--"

"She is a witch." Mills cut him off. 

"Right. . ." Peter paced back and forth rubbing his chin as he processed the rectification that the problem made. "And no one will believe us if Elena returns, tells the truth. They will just think Elena is a drug junkie who's been homeless after running away." He paused, then shifted toward Lauren, now grinning. "I have a idea!"

"What's that?" Mills asked. 

"Elena ran away because she wanted a new life and has only come back because you're getting married."

"And she will appear at the church." Mills followed. 

"Like she were taken by God and returned."

"But, it would still be weird." Mills squinted. 

"Her vocal cords are frozen, so is her age," Peter reminded."if she is freed then maybe it wouldn't be soon as time is let go on her."

"If this doesn't work, she is going be in the news." Mills said. 

Peter took Mills's hands then squeezed them. 

"It's for Elena." Peter said. "We're doing this for _her_." his voice became full of emphasis. "If you get pregnant, you have to go away for awhile and I will stay here."

Mills began to smile but it quickly became tinged by sadness expecting for the worst. Mills was keeping a strong wall up, keeping the sorrow, the heartbreak, and the delicate feelings that she had kept hidden about the incident during high school. She kept her head held up fighting back tears. Peter was going to play the part of the old flame that was going to remain and watch Elena recover, encourage her, and see as everything became a new normal as her old normal ended.

"You're smarter than what Elene credited you for." Mills confessed.

She kept her small smile up, mapping out the passionate look on Peter's face. That's the face she wanted to remember. It was a surprise that he hadn't exploded right then and there all the while calling the wedding off. Peter loved Elena more than what Mills had thought that he did. >/p>

"Whatever you want to do after the child is delivered," she cleared her throat, struggling to maintain composure, rocks supporting her emotional wall was about to give out. "I am ready."

Peter grew concerned.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Peter asked.

"My mom, my other mom, Elena's old friends. . . " Mills said with a small shake of her head. "Everyone must know by now."

"Everyone. . ." Peter repeated the comment.

"Everyone."

"And the police?" Peter asked

"I haven't confessed to them."

"So a few people know and can't take it to the police." Peter said.

"If it is taken to podcast, it would wind up to the police. . . and with friends Elena has, it just would."

Peter stared at Mills as though she were in the middle of a very messy room.

"I am a better liar than you are." Mills painfully reminded Peter. "You can walk out of this clean."

Peter smiled a little at the comment.

"I will see you tonight." Peter said. "Right now. . . I have to tell Rebecca in private."

Peter walked around then grabbed the handle, turned it, then proceeded to open the door.

"I regret walking into White Forest with Elena every night." Mills confessed, her attention resting on her old friend's childhood sweetheart.

Peter shifted toward Mills with a unsettling laugh.

"Now this is the _second_ truth that you have said in this relationship." Peter said.

Peter went out of the room and closed the door behind him.


End file.
